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In his novel You Can’t Go Home Again, Thomas Wolfe tells the story of a man returning to his hometown in search of his identity. In May 1972, Willie Mays was sort of a George Webber-like character when he came to the Mets after spending the first 21 years of his career with the Giants — for 15 years […]

On September 23, 1942 – a little more than nine months after the United States’ entry into the Second World War – the Brooklyn Dodgers offered free admission to anyone bringing 10 pounds of scrap metal to its afternoon game against the Philadelphia Phillies.1 The patriotic promotion was a success: About 150 tons of metal […]

The 1967 Boston Red Sox captured the attention of the baseball world by going from ninth place to the World Series in one season’s time. The so-called “Impossible Dream” season rejuvenated a franchise that hadn’t made the Series since 1946 and had come to be viewed as a going-nowhere “country club” team.1 Some of that […]

San Diego Padres hurler Steve Arlin could hardly be classified as a headhunter. Coming into his August 17, 1971, start against the Montreal Expos, he had hit only four batters in 197 big-league innings. That didn’t stop the pugnacious Ron Hunt, who was usually fine with reaching base on a hit-by-pitch, from grumbling when Arlin […]

The ability of the New York Yankees to come from behind has long been part of baseball lore. Starting with the great 1927 team, the Yankees were associated with the slogan “Five O’Clock Lightning,” for their many late rallies leading to comeback wins.1 Of the many such wins in their storied history, August 20, 1947, […]

In the first week of August 1974, Americans could be forgiven for watching the events of the day unfold through their fingers. The Watergate scandal was at the top of the news, and many wondered how long President Richard Nixon would remain in office. On Monday, August 5, a bomb exploded in a public locker […]

When Ron Hunt, the rawboned 22-year-old Mets second baseman, strode to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning on April 19, 1963, much was riding on the outcome. The Mets had once again opened the season with eight straight losses and were now within two outs of tying their record for season-opening futility, […]

Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau started the 2006 campaign – his second full season in the majors – with a .248 career batting average. After going 1-for-12 in the season-opening series in Toronto, Morneau decided to ditch his 35-inch, 33-ounce cudgel for one of teammate Joe Mauer’s 34-inch, 31-ounce bats.1 The decision paid immediate […]

Outfielder Steve Salvato never played a day in the major leagues, but he once got three hits in a regular-season game at a big-league ballpark. Same thing with pitcher Henry Bunnell: He never appeared in the majors, but he once earned a win in a big-league park. These unusual events happened in June 1972, when […]

In their ongoing struggle to outdraw the Red Sox, their team’s longtime rivals for the affections of New England baseball fans, owners of the Boston Braves usually finished on the losing end. Cavernous Braves Field, situated just off an unexciting stretch of automobile dealerships on Boston’s Commonwealth Avenue, was no match for cozy Fenway Park […]

In the 1960s Pittsburgh Pirates trailblazer Roberto Clemente challenged Henry Aaron’s reign as the National League’s top right fielder. Their amicable rivalry seized the spotlight during a May 1967 Braves-Pirates series in Atlanta. At the end of a weekend in which Braves broadcaster Milo Hamilton jested about Clemente overtaking Aaron as the NL All-Star right […]

“He can pitch,” said Montreal Expos skipper Gene Mauch about rookie right-hander Steve Rogers, who tossed a brilliant one-hit shutout over the Philadelphia Phillies to earn his first big-league win in his second start. “Rarely does a man with such experience have the confidence in his control of so many pitches.”1 Described by Pat Jordan […]

Richard Leo Gedman fulfilled his childhood dream in his tenure in the major leagues, suiting up for over a decade for the team he grew up rooting for. Gedman, a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, spent parts of 11 seasons (1980-1990) as a catcher for the Boston Red Sox. The two-time All-Star also played for the […]

From 1975 through 1982, Dennis Lewallyn pitched in parts of eight seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, and Cleveland Indians. The 6-foot-4 righty totaled a year and a half of major league service time, going 4-4 in 34 games. “I threw a sinker, slider, change-up; did not throw a lot of pitches in […]

“Jiquí” Moreno was not big (5’8” and 165 pounds) — but he threw hard. How hard is jiquí wood? In Cuba, Moreno’s native land, linemen could not sink their spurs into telephone poles made from this tree — they had to use ladders. Brick stair steps wore down, yet their jiquí binding was simply polished. […]

As the clean-up hitter on one of the strongest offensive teams of his day, Bobby Veach was one of the truly great RBI men of the late Deadball Era, easily leading the major leagues in runs driven in over the twelve years, 1913 to 1924, that he was a full time player. Veach drove in […]

“As a reliever, you’ve got to have amnesia. Not only with the bad days, but with the good days. You may get them out one, two, three today, but you’ve got to forget about it immediately, because that may not happen tomorrow.” — Roberto Hernandez, 20071 “(In the 1989 Instructional League), Roberto (Hernandez) and (pitching […]

Richard Joseph “Trixie” Tracewski was an average-hitting, good-fielding shortstop whose career in baseball spanned both the National and American Leagues, four World Series rings, and a Detroit Tigers record span as both a base and bench coach. Also known as “Dick Tracy” by many fans in Los Angeles during his four years with the Dodgers […]

Sam Nahem was a so-so pitcher who logged a 10–8 won-loss record and a 4.69 ERA in four partial seasons with the Dodgers, Cardinals, and Phillies between 1938 and 1948. Despite this unremarkable record, Nahem was a remarkable major leaguer in many ways. He was the only Syrian and one of the few Jews in […]

The first year the Red Sox wore uniform numbers was 1931. The first man to wear #1 was Bill Sweeney. It was his last year in the majors. Sweeney lived out the rest of his life in baseball, twice managing the Pacific Coast League Los Angeles Angels to pennants, in two stints eight years apart […]

Two months after Ulysses Brooks Lawrence’s major-league debut as a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1954, sportswriter Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described this newcomer to the team and his amazing accomplishments since arriving: “Ulysses Brooks Lawrence, an eager-beaver of the mound with the heart of a lion, the hide of […]

Guerrant McCurdy Scarce — the ornate Southern name could have been a Confederate general’s. Instead, just over a century after the Civil War, it belonged to a tall lefty reliever known simply as “Mac.” The Virginian had a fine college career and a promising start in the minors. In the big leagues, however, he finished […]

Hardrock Johnson: it’s one of the great tough-guy names. Roy Johnson got the monicker as a minor-league manager in Arizona, circa the late 1920s, because “he was a stickler for hard playing.”1 Johnson, a righty pitcher, was in the majors for part of just one season, 1918. He posted a 1-5 record in 10 games […]

“This guy is a natural. He’s got ideas about what he wants to do and does it. He amazes me.” — Carl Hubbell “No pitcher has made such magnificent use of his God-given equipment.” — Branch Rickey “If you placed all the pitchers in the history of the game behind a transparent curtain, where only […]